


let the spectrum in

by TheFreakWithTheWings



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Autism, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 02:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15697896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFreakWithTheWings/pseuds/TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: Professor McGonagall has rules about who pranksters are allowed to target.





	let the spectrum in

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from 'Spectrum' by Florence and the Machine, which I was listening to when I was writing this.

When Hermione saw the Weasley twins being cornered by an older Slytherin girl, she immediately knew that she had to help. Gryffindors didn’t let other Gryffindors face Slytherins alone, so she hitched her book bag up, straightened her shoulders, and marched over with all the authority she didn’t have.

The Slytherin girl took one look at Hermione and fled, a panicked expression on her face.

“What was that for, Granger,” one of the twins asked.

Hermione frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “I wasn’t going to let that Slytherin bully you without saying anything.”

The twins exchanged a look, and then identical smiles spread across their faces.

“Oh, Granger -” one began.

“- dear, sweet, Granger -”

“ - that was Annie Austing. She’s just about the -”

“ - quietest Slytherin of the bunch. Annie’s about as likely to be a bully -”

“ - as a puffskein is to eat meat,” one of them finished.

“Well, why was she talking to you?” Hermione asked.

The twins sighed in unison then grabbed her by the arms and escorted her to an empty classroom.

“Here’s the thing, Granger, there’s a fine line between pranking -”

“- and bullying. McGonagall gave us a talk in our first year so we’d know -”

“- which students not to target.”

Hermione frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Some people think differently than most people,” one of them explained. “McGonagall just made sure we’d know who they are cause it can get bad if they get caught up in a prank without knowing about it.”

“We try to always let them know ahead of time when we’re planning a prank on their house, cause then they’re more willing to go along with it.”

“Plus, sometimes they can get us in to their common rooms,” one of them finished with a wicked grin.

Hermione frowned, thinking about what the twins had said. People who thought differently than most, and who would see pranks as bullying. It sounded vaguely familiar, like something she’d read about a long time ago.

“Oh,” she said, her eyes widening as she remembered. “Oh, I understand now.”

When Hermione had been very little, her parents had taken her to a doctor to test for autism because she’d had such a hard time connecting to her peers, preferring her books to their teasing. She hadn’t been diagnosed, but she’d still read everything she could get her hands on afterwards.

One of the twins eyed her. “Say, Granger, do you need us to let you know about pranks ahead of time too?”

Hermione shook her head. “Ah, no that’s really not necessary.”

The other twin shrugged. “If you say so. Whelp, we’re off to go talk to five Ravenclaws and a couple of Hufflepuffs.”

They had nearly disappeared around the corner when the implications of what the Weasley twins had said hit her. “Wait, you’re going to prank the whole school?”

**Author's Note:**

> I like to think that McGonagall came up with this rule about neurodivergent people after what happened with the Marauders and Snape. 
> 
> Apologies if the language here is offensive. I have only just started exploring autism spectrum disorder, so I'm not familiar with the correct language to describe it. The Wizarding World doesn't have a term for neurodivergence, so that's why the twins describe it as 'thinking differently than most people' instead of naming it. Ravenclaws is the house with the greatest number of neurodivergent people, with Slytherin coming as a close second. It's a little easier to detect in the Wizarding World because neurodivergent people are more prone to accidental magic after they get a wand, especially in regards to their hair.
> 
> Annie Austing is basically a self-insert. I barely changed the name at all. Things that I came up with about her that I didn't add here: she's cunning and clever so that she can blend in with everyone else, and her main ambition is to raise the standards of fiction in the Wizarding World, mostly by publishing her own works but also by introducing more muggle fiction. She's barely a pureblood - her grandparents were muggleborn - so she gets some flack for that. She gets sparkles in her hair when her emotions get too strong.
> 
> Also, I headcanon Hermione as autistic - she didn't get diagnosed cause a) it's harder to recognize in girls and b) the standards of diagnosis were a lot higher when she was tested. Her hair gets floofier the more upset she gets.


End file.
